U.S. patent application number 14/062982 was filed with the patent office on 2014-11-27 for communication device and method for performing radio communication.
The applicant listed for this patent is Thorsten Clevorn, Pablo Herrero, Ronen Kronfeld, Uri Perlmutter. Invention is credited to Thorsten Clevorn, Pablo Herrero, Ronen Kronfeld, Uri Perlmutter.
Application Number | 20140349584 14/062982 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 51863308 |
Filed Date | 2014-11-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140349584 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Clevorn; Thorsten ; et
al. |
November 27, 2014 |
COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING RADIO
COMMUNICATION
Abstract
A communication device is described comprising a first antenna,
a second antenna and a third antenna; a first transceiver
configured to communicate using at least the first antenna; a
second transceiver configured to communicate using at least the
second antenna; and a controller configured to determine whether
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or the
second transceiver based on a selection criterion and configured to
control the first transceiver to communicate using the first
antenna and the third antenna if the controller has determined that
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and to
control the second transceiver to communicate using the second
antenna and the third antenna if the controller has determined that
the third antenna is to be used by the second transceiver.
Inventors: |
Clevorn; Thorsten;
(Muenchen, DE) ; Herrero; Pablo; (Muenchen,
DE) ; Perlmutter; Uri; (Ranana, IL) ;
Kronfeld; Ronen; (Shoham, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Clevorn; Thorsten
Herrero; Pablo
Perlmutter; Uri
Kronfeld; Ronen |
Muenchen
Muenchen
Ranana
Shoham |
|
DE
DE
IL
IL |
|
|
Family ID: |
51863308 |
Appl. No.: |
14/062982 |
Filed: |
October 25, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61827029 |
May 24, 2013 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/67.13 ;
455/68 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 88/06 20130101;
H04B 7/0693 20130101; H04B 7/0486 20130101; H04B 7/04 20130101;
H04B 7/0871 20130101; H04B 7/0877 20130101; H04L 5/0023 20130101;
H04W 72/046 20130101; H04B 7/0689 20130101; H04W 72/085
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/67.13 ;
455/68 |
International
Class: |
H04B 7/04 20060101
H04B007/04 |
Claims
1. A communication device comprising: a first antenna, a second
antenna and a third antenna; a first transceiver configured to
communicate using at least the first antenna; a second transceiver
configured to communicate using at least the second antenna; and a
controller configured to determine whether the third antenna is to
be used by the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on
a selection criterion and configured to control the first
transceiver to communicate using the first antenna and the third
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the first transceiver and to control the second
transceiver to communicate using the second antenna and the third
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver.
2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first
transceiver is configured to communicate according to a first radio
access technology and the second transceiver is configured to
communicate according to a second radio access technology different
from the first radio access technology.
3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first
transceiver includes a first baseband circuit and the second
transceiver includes a second baseband circuit.
4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to control the first transceiver to communicate using
the first antenna and the third antenna and the second transceiver
to communicate simultaneously using the second antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver and to control the second transceiver to
communicate using the second antenna and the third antenna and the
first transceiver to communicate simultaneously using the first
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver.
5. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to determine whether the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on a quality
requirement of the communication of the first transceiver and a
quality requirement of the communication of the second
transceiver.
6. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the controller is
configured to determine that the third antenna is to be used by the
first transceiver if the quality requirement of the communication
of the first transceiver is higher than the quality requirement of
the communication of the second transceiver and to determine that
the third antenna is to be used by the second transceiver if the
quality requirement of the communication of the second transceiver
is higher than the quality requirement of the communication of the
first transceiver.
7. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the quality
requirement is a throughput requirement or a robustness requirement
or a combination of both.
8. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to determine whether the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on a priority
of the communication of the first transceiver and a priority of the
communication of the second transceiver.
9. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to determine whether the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on radio
conditions of the communication of the first transceiver and based
on radio conditions of the communication of the second
transceiver.
10. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the controller is
configured to determine that the third antenna is to be used by the
first transceiver if the radio conditions of the communication of
the first transceiver are worse than the radio conditions of the
communication of the second transceiver and to determine that the
third antenna is to be used by the second transceiver if the radio
conditions of the communication of the second transceiver are worse
than the radio conditions of the communication of the first
transceiver.
11. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to control the first transceiver to perform a MIMO
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver and to control the second transceiver to
perform a MIMO communication using the second antenna and the third
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver.
12. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication
device is a communication terminal.
13. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication
device is a subscriber terminal of a mobile cellular radio
communication system and the first transceiver is configured to
communicate with a base station of the mobile cellular radio
communication system.
14. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the second
transceiver is configured to communicate with an access point of a
wireless local area network.
15. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to control the first transceiver to perform downlink
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver and to control the second transceiver to
perform downlink communication using the second antenna and the
third antenna if the controller has determined that the third
antenna is to be used by the second transceiver.
16. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to control the first transceiver to perform downlink
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna and the
second transceiver to simultaneously perform downlink communication
using the second antenna if the controller has determined that the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and to control
the second transceiver to perform downlink communication using the
second antenna and the third antenna and the first transceiver to
simultaneously perform downlink communication using the first
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver.
17. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is
configured to determine whether the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver or the second transceiver for downlink
communication; to control the first transceiver to perform downlink
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver for downlink communication; to control the
second transceiver to perform downlink communication using the
second antenna and the third antenna if the controller has
determined that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver for downlink communication; to determine whether the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or the second
transceiver for uplink communication; to control the first
transceiver to perform uplink communication using the first antenna
and the third antenna if the controller has determined that the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver for uplink
communication; and to control the second transceiver to perform
uplink communication using the second antenna and the third antenna
if the controller has determined that the third antenna is to be
used by the second transceiver for uplink communication.
18. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first
transceiver is configured to communicate with a first device and
the second transceiver is configured to communicate with a second
device different from the first device.
19. A method for performing radio communication comprising
determining whether a third antenna of a communication device
comprising a first antenna, a second antenna and the third antenna
is to be used by a first transceiver or a second transceiver of the
communication device based on a selection criterion; controlling
the first transceiver to communicate using the first antenna and
the third antenna if the third antenna is to be used by the first
transceiver; and controlling the second transceiver to communicate
using the second antenna and the third antenna if the third antenna
is to be used by the second transceiver.
20. A computer readable medium having recorded instructions thereon
which, when executed by a processor, make the processor perform a
method for performing radio communication according to claim 19.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of US provisional
application No. 61/827,029, filed 24 May 2013, the content of it
being hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all
purposes.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] Embodiments described herein generally relate to
communication devices and methods for performing radio
communication.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Today's mobile communication devices (such as smartphones,
tablets, notebooks etc.) may support multiple Radio Access
Technologies (RATs) like WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network),
Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), GSM (Global System for
Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System), LTE (Long Term Evolution) etc. For the reception and
transmission of wireless signals using a certain RAT a
communication device needs an antenna. For high-data speed or
improved reception with technologies like Receive Diversity or
Transmit Diversity or MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) even
multiple antennas may be needed for a certain RAT, e.g. LTE or
WLAN.
[0004] However, the available space in a mobile communication
device is typically very limited and often not sufficient to place
a higher number of antennas. A reduction of the size of the
antennas may not be possible or may be undesirable since it may
reduce the antennas' performance significantly. Furthermore, each
antenna that is incorporated in a mobile communication device
generates additional cost during production of the mobile
communication device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer
to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are
not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed
upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following
description, various aspects are described with reference to the
following drawings, in which:
[0006] FIG. 1 shows a communication arrangement.
[0007] FIG. 2 shows a communication device.
[0008] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method for
performing radio communication.
[0009] FIG. 4 shows a transceiver arrangement with an LTE
transceiver and a WLAN transceiver sharing an antenna.
[0010] FIG. 5 shows a signal diagram illustrating a scenario in
which a shared antenna is switched from LTE to WLAN for a period of
unknown length.
[0011] FIG. 6 shows a signal diagram in which a shared antenna is
switched from LTE to WLAN for a short period of known length.
[0012] FIG. 7 shows a signal diagram in which a shared antenna is
switched from LTE to WLAN for a very short period.
[0013] FIG. 8 shows a communication arrangement in a tethering
scenario.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0014] The following detailed description refers to the
accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific
details and aspects of this disclosure in which the invention may
be practiced. Other aspects may be utilized and structural,
logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from
the scope of the invention. The various aspects of this disclosure
are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some aspects of this
disclosure can be combined with one or more other aspects of this
disclosure to form new aspects.
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a communication arrangement 100.
[0016] The communication arrangement 100 includes a mobile
communication device 101 (such as a smartphone, a tablet, a
notebooks etc) which supports two (or more) radio access
technologies (RATs), in this example LTE (Long Term Evolution) and
WiFi (or, in other words, WLAN). For this, the mobile communication
device 101, also referred to as mobile terminal, includes a first
transceiver 102, in this example an LTE transceiver and a second
transceiver 103, in this example a WiFi transceiver.
[0017] The mobile communication device 101 further comprises a
plurality of antennas 104. By means of one or more of the antennas
104, the LTE transceiver 102 may communicate with an LTE base
station 105 and the WiFi transceiver 103 may communicate with a
WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) access point 106.
[0018] It should be noted that LTE and WiFi are only examples and
other RATs may be used such as UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System), GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications), Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System)
etc.
[0019] The RATs, in this example LTE and WiFi may support
technologies that require the usage of more than one antenna, for
example MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output). To provide both
transceivers 102, 103 with a sufficient number for such
technologies while not including a high number of antennas, which
may be undesirable, e.g. due to space restrictions, an antenna may
be used (uncontrolled) in parallel by a plurality of RATs. However,
due to the possible interaction between the signals of the
different RATs and the lack of tuning the antenna to a specific RAT
the reception performance may be degraded.
[0020] As described in the following, according to one example, a
communication device provided in which one or more antennas may be
shared between RATs (which each request multiple antennas) by
switching it between the RATs in a controlled manner. RATs such as
LTE and WiFi typically require multiple antennas only for
high-speed data reception or transmission or under bad radio
conditions. However, it is unlikely that multiple RATs do a
high-speed data reception or transmission at the same time. In case
that multiple RATs experience degrading radio conditions a priority
decision could be taken which RAT is more important and is assigned
a shared antenna.
[0021] FIG. 2 shows a communication device 200.
[0022] The communication device 200 comprises a first antenna 201,
a second antenna 202 and a third antenna 203, a first transceiver
204 configured to communicate using at least the first antenna 201
and a second transceiver 205 configured to communicate using at
least the second antenna 202.
[0023] The communication device 200 further comprises a controller
206 configured to determine whether the third antenna 203 is to be
used by the first transceiver 204 or the second transceiver 205
based on a selection criterion and configured to control the first
transceiver 204 to communicate using the first antenna 201 and the
third antenna 203 if the controller 206 has determined that the
third antenna 203 is to be used by the first transceiver 204 and to
control the second transceiver 205 to communicate using the second
antenna 202 and the third antenna 203 if the controller 206 has
determined that the third antenna 203 is to be used by the second
transceiver 205.
[0024] In other words, an antenna (in this example the third
antenna) may be shared between different transceivers (e.g.
operating according to different RATs) in the sense that it is
decided based on a certain criterion which transceiver may use the
antenna (in addition to the one or more antennas that are assigned
to the transceiver anyway). The criterion may for example be based
on a required quality of the communication of the first transceiver
and the communication of the second transceiver (e.g. a required
throughput, robustness, Quality of Service, latency etc.), on a
priority of the first transceiver and a priority of the second
transceiver and/or the current radio conditions that the
transceiver experiences. For example, the transceiver which
experiences the worse radio conditions is assigned with the shared
antenna. Worse radio conditions may for example mean a higher risk
of a lost communication connection or a higher bit error rate or
packet error rate, a lower signal-to-noise ratio etc.
[0025] The communication device 200 for example carries out a
method as illustrated in FIG. 3.
[0026] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram 300.
[0027] The flow diagram 300 illustrates a method for performing
radio communication, for example carried out by a controller of a
communication device.
[0028] In 301, the controller determines whether a third antenna of
the communication device which comprises a first antenna, a second
antenna and the third antenna is to be used by a first transceiver
or a second transceiver of the communication device based on a
selection criterion.
[0029] In 302, the controller controls the first transceiver to
communicate using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver.
[0030] In 302, the controller controls the second transceiver to
communicate using the second antenna and the third antenna if the
third antenna is to be used by the second transceiver.
[0031] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.
[0032] Example 1, as described with respect to FIG. 2, is a
communication device comprising a first antenna, a second antenna
and a third antenna; a first transceiver configured to communicate
using at least the first antenna; a second transceiver configured
to communicate using at least the second antenna; and a controller
configured to determine whether the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on a
selection criterion and configured to control the first transceiver
to communicate using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver and to control the second transceiver to
communicate using the second antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the second transceiver.
[0033] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally
include the first transceiver being configured to communicate
according to a first radio access technology and the second
transceiver being configured to communicate according to a second
radio access technology different from the first radio access
technology.
[0034] In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 can
optionally include the first transceiver including a first baseband
circuit and the second transceiver including a second baseband
circuit.
[0035] In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 can
optionally include the controller being configured to control the
first transceiver to communicate using the first antenna and the
third antenna and the second transceiver to communicate
simultaneously using the second antenna if the controller has
determined that the third antenna is to be used by the first
transceiver and to control the second transceiver to communicate
using the second antenna and the third antenna and the first
transceiver to communicate simultaneously using the first antenna
if the controller has determined that the third antenna is to be
used by the second transceiver.
[0036] In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 can
optionally include the controller being configured to determine
whether the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or
the second transceiver based on a quality requirement of the
communication of the first transceiver and a quality requirement of
the communication of the second transceiver.
[0037] In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 5 can optionally
include the controller being configured to determine that the third
antenna is to be used by the first transceiver if the quality
requirement of the communication of the first transceiver is higher
than the quality requirement of the communication of the second
transceiver and to determine that the third antenna is to be used
by the second transceiver if the quality requirement of the
communication of the second transceiver is higher than the quality
requirement of the communication of the first transceiver.
[0038] In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 5-6 can
optionally include the quality requirement being a throughput
requirement or a robustness requirement or a combination of
both.
[0039] In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 can
optionally include the controller being configured to determine
whether the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or
the second transceiver based on a priority of the communication of
the first transceiver and a priority of the communication of the
second transceiver.
[0040] In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 can
optionally include the controller being configured to determine
whether the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or
the second transceiver based on radio conditions of the
communication of the first transceiver and based on radio
conditions of the communication of the second transceiver.
[0041] In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 9 can
optionally include the controller being configured to determine
that the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver if
the radio conditions of the communication of the first transceiver
are worse than the radio conditions of the communication of the
second transceiver and to determine that the third antenna is to be
used by the second transceiver if the radio conditions of the
communication of the second transceiver are worse than the radio
conditions of the communication of the first transceiver.
[0042] In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 1-10 can
optionally include the controller being configured to control the
first transceiver to perform a MIMO communication using the first
antenna and the third antenna if the controller has determined that
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and to
control the second transceiver to perform a MIMO communication
using the second antenna and the third antenna if the controller
has determined that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver.
[0043] In Example 12, the subject matter of Examples 1-11 can
optionally include the communication device being a communication
terminal.
[0044] In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 1-12 can
optionally include the communication device being a subscriber
terminal of a mobile cellular radio communication system and the
first transceiver is configured to communicate with a base station
of the mobile cellular radio communication system.
[0045] In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 1-13 can
optionally include the second transceiver being configured to
communicate with an access point of a wireless local area
network.
[0046] In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 1-14 can
optionally include the controller being configured to control the
first transceiver to perform downlink communication using the first
antenna and the third antenna if the controller has determined that
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and to
control the second transceiver to perform downlink communication
using the second antenna and the third antenna if the controller
has determined that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver.
[0047] In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 1-15 can
optionally include the controller being configured to control the
first transceiver to perform downlink communication using the first
antenna and the third antenna and the second transceiver to
simultaneously perform downlink communication using the second
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the first transceiver and to control the second
transceiver to perform downlink communication using the second
antenna and the third antenna and the first transceiver to
simultaneously perform downlink communication using the first
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver.
[0048] In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 1-16 can
optionally include the controller being configured [0049] to
determine whether the third antenna is to be used by the first
transceiver or the second transceiver for downlink communication;
[0050] to control the first transceiver to perform downlink
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
controller has determined that the third antenna is to be used by
the first transceiver for downlink communication; [0051] to control
the second transceiver to perform downlink communication using the
second antenna and the third antenna if the controller has
determined that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver for downlink communication; [0052] to determine whether
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver or the
second transceiver for uplink communication; [0053] to control the
first transceiver to perform uplink communication using the first
antenna and the third antenna if the controller has determined that
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver for uplink
communication; and [0054] to control the second transceiver to
perform uplink communication using the second antenna and the third
antenna if the controller has determined that the third antenna is
to be used by the second transceiver for uplink communication.
[0055] In Example 18, the subject matter of Examples 1-17 can
optionally include the first transceiver being configured to
communicate with a first device and the second transceiver being
configured to communicate with a second device different from the
first device.
[0056] In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 1-18 can
optionally include the first device being a base station of a
cellular mobile communication network.
[0057] In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 1-19 can
optionally include the second device being a communication terminal
and the communication device being configured to provide the second
device with a communication connection to the cellular mobile
communication network by means of the first transceiver and the
second transceiver.
[0058] Example 21, as described with respect to FIG. 3, is a method
for performing radio communication comprising determining whether a
third antenna of a communication device comprising a first antenna,
a second antenna and the third antenna is to be used by a first
transceiver or a second transceiver of the communication device
based on a selection criterion; controlling the first transceiver
to communicate using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver; and
controlling the second transceiver to communicate using the second
antenna and the third antenna if the third antenna is to be used by
the second transceiver.
[0059] In Example 22, the subject matter of Example 21 can
optionally include the first transceiver communicating according to
a first radio access technology and the second transceiver
communicating according to a second radio access technology
different from the first radio access technology.
[0060] In Example 23, the subject matter of Examples 21-22 can
optionally include the first transceiver including a first baseband
circuit and the second transceiver including a second baseband
circuit.
[0061] In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 21-23 can
optionally include controlling the first transceiver to communicate
using the first antenna and the third antenna and the second
transceiver to communicate simultaneously using the second antenna
if the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and
controlling the second transceiver to communicate using the second
antenna and the third antenna and the first transceiver to
communicate simultaneously using the first antenna if the third
antenna is to be used by the second transceiver.
[0062] In Example 25, the subject matter of Examples 21-24 can
optionally include determining whether the third antenna is to be
used by the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on a
quality requirement of the communication of the first transceiver
and a quality requirement of the communication of the second
transceiver.
[0063] In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 can
optionally include determining that the third antenna is to be used
by the first transceiver if the quality requirement of the
communication of the first transceiver is higher than the quality
requirement of the communication of the second transceiver and to
determine that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver if the quality requirement of the communication of the
second transceiver is higher than the quality requirement of the
communication of the first transceiver.
[0064] In Example 27, the subject matter of Examples 25-26 can
optionally include the quality requirement being a throughput
requirement or a robustness requirement or a combination of
both.
[0065] In Example 28, the subject matter of Examples 21-27 can
optionally include determining whether the third antenna is to be
used by the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on a
priority of the communication of the first transceiver and a
priority of the communication of the second transceiver.
[0066] In Example 29, the subject matter of Examples 21-28 can
optionally include determining whether the third antenna is to be
used by the first transceiver or the second transceiver based on
radio conditions of the communication of the first transceiver and
based on radio conditions of the communication of the second
transceiver.
[0067] In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 29 can
optionally include determining that the third antenna is to be used
by the first transceiver if the radio conditions of the
communication of the first transceiver are worse than the radio
conditions of the communication of the second transceiver and
determining that the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver if the radio conditions of the communication of the
second transceiver are worse than the radio conditions of the
communication of the first transceiver.
[0068] In Example 31, the subject matter of Examples 21-30 can
optionally include controlling the first transceiver to perform a
MIMO communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if
the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and
controlling the second transceiver to perform a MIMO communication
using the second antenna and the third antenna if the third antenna
is to be used by the second transceiver.
[0069] In Example 32, the subject matter of Examples 21-31 can
optionally include the communication device being a communication
terminal.
[0070] In Example 33, the subject matter of Examples 21-32 can
optionally include the communication device being a subscriber
terminal of a mobile cellular radio communication system and the
first transceiver being configured to communicate with a base
station of the mobile cellular radio communication system.
[0071] In Example 34, the subject matter of Examples 21-33 can
optionally include the second transceiver being configured to
communicate with an access point of a wireless local area
network.
[0072] In Example 35, the subject matter of Examples 21-34 can
optionally include controlling the first transceiver to perform
downlink communication using the first antenna and the third
antenna if the third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver
and controlling the second transceiver to perform downlink
communication using the second antenna and the third antenna if the
third antenna is to be used by the second transceiver.
[0073] In Example 36, the subject matter of Examples 21-35 can
optionally include controlling the first transceiver to perform
downlink communication using the first antenna and the third
antenna and the second transceiver to simultaneously perform
downlink communication using the second antenna if the third
antenna is to be used by the first transceiver and controlling the
second transceiver to perform downlink communication using the
second antenna and the third antenna and the first transceiver to
simultaneously perform downlink communication using the first
antenna if the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver.
[0074] In Example 37, the subject matter of Examples 21-36 can
optionally include [0075] determining whether the third antenna is
to be used by the first transceiver or the second transceiver for
downlink communication [0076] controlling the first transceiver to
perform downlink communication using the first antenna and the
third antenna if the third antenna is to be used by the first
transceiver for downlink communication [0077] controlling the
second transceiver to perform downlink communication using the
second antenna and the third antenna if the third antenna is to be
used by the second transceiver for downlink communication [0078]
determining whether the third antenna is to be used by the first
transceiver or the second transceiver for uplink communication;
[0079] controlling the first transceiver to perform uplink
communication using the first antenna and the third antenna if the
third antenna is to be used by the first transceiver for uplink
communication; and [0080] controlling the second transceiver to
perform uplink communication using the second antenna and the third
antenna if the third antenna is to be used by the second
transceiver for uplink communication.
[0081] In Example 38, the subject matter of Examples 21-37 can
optionally include the first transceiver communicating with a first
device and the second transceiver communicating with a second
device different from the first device.
[0082] In Example 39, the subject matter of Examples 21-38 can
optionally include the first device being a base station of a
cellular mobile communication network.
[0083] In Example 40, the subject matter of Examples 21-39 can
optionally include the second device being a communication terminal
and the communication device providing the second device with a
communication connection to the cellular mobile communication
network by means of the first transceiver and the second
transceiver.
[0084] Example 41 is a computer readable medium having recorded
instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor, make the
processor perform a method for performing radio communication
according to any one of Examples 21 to 40.
[0085] In the following, a detailed example is described with
reference to the communication arrangement 100 shown in FIG. 1,
i.e. in which an LTE transceiver 102 and a WiFi transceiver 103
share one of the antennas 104 as both RATs can employ MIMO and
support high-speed data. The approach described with reference to
FIGS. 2 and 3 may also be applied to other RATs like Bluetooth,
GPS, UMTS, GSM, etc. and extended to more than one shared
antenna.
[0086] FIG. 4 shows a transceiver arrangement 400.
[0087] The transceiver arrangement 400 includes an LTE transceiver
401 corresponding to the LTE transceiver 102 and a WiFi transceiver
402 corresponding to the WiFi transceiver 103. The transceiver
arrangement 400 further includes a first antenna 403, a second
antenna 404 and a third antenna 405 which correspond to the
antennas 104. In this example, the first antenna 403 is permanently
assigned to the LTE transceiver 401, the second antenna 404 is
permanently assigned to the WiFi transceiver 402 and the third
antenna 405 is a shared antenna which may be switched between the
LTE transceiver 401 and the WiFi transceiver 402 by means of a
switch 406. Both transceivers 401, 402 in this example support 2x2
MIMO (i.e. MIMO with two transmit antennas and two receive
antennas) for reception, i.e. for downlink transmission from the
base station 105 and the access point 106 to the mobile
communication device 101.
[0088] The transceiver 401, 402 which uses only a single antenna
has a slightly degraded performance compared to the other
transceiver 401, 402 since it may not use two antennas for MIMO. In
the following, examples are given how a controller of the mobile
communication device 101 may decide to which transceiver 401, 402
the shared antenna 405 is assigned such that that both RATs (i.e.
transceivers 401, 402) still can perform well.
[0089] For example, a controller of the mobile communication device
101 switches the shared antenna 405 by means of controlling the
switch 406 according to a smart control mechanism which takes
various parameters into account. For example the controller
can:
a) detect which RAT (in other words which transceiver 401, 402)
requires the higher data rate and assign the shared antenna to this
RAT (i.e. the corresponding transceiver 401, 402). If the mobile
communication device 101 has an active WLAN (i.e. WiFi) connection
e.g. when its user is at home or at work typically the WLAN
connection provides a higher data rate than an LTE connection and
the mobile communication device 101 typically uses the WLAN
connection, e.g. for video streaming. When the mobile communication
device 101 leaves WLAN coverage and for example scans for an
accessible WLAN, it may perform a high-speed data transfer (such as
video streaming) via LTE and the controller may for this switch the
shared antenna 405 to LTE. b) detect that a certain RAT is in
degrading radio conditions and assign the shared antenna 405 to
this RAT to improve the reception performance of this RAT to keep
the corresponding communication connection (i.e. to avoid a
connection loss). For example, in the basement of a house the WLAN
radio conditions may still be good (perhaps with an WLAN hot spot
or repeater) but due to the walls the LTE reception may be degraded
and close to a connection loss. In this case, the controller could
switch the shared antenna 405 to LTE to keep the connection. On the
other hand, when the user leaves his home (or the office or goes in
the back of his garden) with his mobile communication device 101
the LTE coverage may be good but the reception of his WLAN may
degrade and the controller may decide to switch the shared antenna
405 to WLAN, i.e. to the WLAN transceiver 402. c) take parameters
not originating from the two RATs into account like: [0090] The
traffic types generated by the user like browsing, streaming, voice
call, file download and their routing/distribution to the RATs.
[0091] User preference (e.g. configured in a menu, possibly with
different thresholds like "neutral", "small preference for RAT 1 or
2", "high preference"). This preference may also be configured by a
network operator (e.g. the LTE communication network operator to
which the base station 105 belongs) or the device manufacturer of
the mobile communication device 101, e.g. based on their wishes or
capabilities regarding WLAN off-loading. [0092] Location
information (provided by a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite
System), WLAN IDs, LTE cell IDs etc.) which might e.g. indicate
that WLANs preferred by the user (e.g. a home WLAN, or an office
WLAN etc.) are nearby or indicate a location with known bad LTE
coverage. [0093] Information (such as the information given in the
items above) based e.g. on a historic collection of the mobile
communication device 101, on a central database or on some other
information available in the mobile communication device like
calendar entries indicating a location. d) take into account the
request of a transceiver 401, 402 for multiple antennas which may
also depend on a dynamic receive or transmit diversity scheme
employed by the transceiver which switches on/off (or requests the
switching) of antennas, e.g. a diversity antenna based on its own
status like good/bad conditions, dedicated packets being received,
etc. For example, in case one transceiver 401, 402 requests only a
single antenna anyway (e.g. because of good conditions), the
controller may assign the shared antenna 405 to the other
transceiver 401, 402.
[0094] The controller may carry out its decision (or determination)
also on a combination of the above items and parameters.
[0095] The controller may also carry out its decision depending on
whether the transceivers 401, 402 are idle or have an active
connection. For example, instead of both transceivers 401, 402
having (or establishing) active connections and the controller
deciding to which transceiver 401, 402 the shared antenna 405
should be assigned for the active connections, the controller may
also decide to which transceiver 401, 402 the shared antenna 405
should be assigned in case one or both of the transceivers 401, 402
are in idle mode. For example, in idle mode typically reception
gaps (e.g. in a DRX (discontinuous reception) scheme) are used for
a RAT to save power. In this case the controller may switch the
shared antenna 405 in a reception gap of one RAT to the other RAT
since it is not needed for the RAT with the reception gap.
[0096] As further example is described in the following. It is
assumed that the mobile communication device 101 has a VoLTE voice
call via LTE and, in parallel, a WiFi connection. In this case, the
controller may differentiate between sporadic WLAN traffic like for
browsing and continuous WLAN like for video streaming. [0097] For
sporadic (e.g. browsing) traffic the controller may for example
assign the shared antenna 405 to the first transceiver 401, in
other words the VoLTE voice call. The controller may for example
switch the shared antenna 405 for short a time period to the second
transceiver 402 for the sporadic WLAN traffic. After this time
periods, the controller switches the antenna 405 back to LTE for an
efficient use of the network capacity. [0098] With a high-rate
video streaming via WiFi, for example, the controller may assign
the shared antenna to the WiFi transmitter 402 as the low rate
VoLTE call can be supported by a single antenna in good radio
conditions. However, if the controller detects bad LTE radio
conditions it may decide to switch the shared antenna to LTE to
avoid a call drop by the enhanced reception offered by the
diversity achieved when using a plurality of antennas, to e.g.
ensure that the call kept on LTE or is properly handed over to
another communication network, e.g. a 2G or 3G communication
network.
[0099] When switching antennas between RATs the controller may
consider which transmission schemes the RATs employ. If a RAT (LTE,
WLAN etc.) employs e.g. 2x2 MIMO then two antennas are needed for
reception to decode the two MIMO streams. However, in practical
application the transmission paths of the two antennas may have a
high correlation such that only a single MIMO stream may be
efficiently supported. To control the transmission the mobile
communication device 101 may report a parameter like the rank of
the MIMO channel matrix to the transmitter (in this case the base
station 105). A rank of 2 indicates that two MIMO streams are
possible (with two antennas needed) while a rank of 1 indicates the
request for a single MIMO stream which can be decoded with a single
antenna with a small performance degradation compared to the usage
of two antennas.
[0100] In the following an example is given how this rank reporting
can be used by the mobile communication device 101 to configure the
MIMO schemes employed at the transmitters of the RATs. As an
example, the case of an LTE link running with rank 2 and a WLAN
link requesting the shared antenna 405 is used. The RATs may also
be reversed or this may also be applied to other RAT
combinations.
[0101] First, a scenario is assumed in which the mobile
communication device 101 has a VoLTE voice call via LTE and, in
parallel, performs video streaming via WiFi. It is assumed that the
radio conditions for LTE are good. The flow is illustrated in FIG.
5.
[0102] FIG. 5 shows a signal diagram 500.
[0103] In the signal diagram 500, time flows from left to right and
the assignment of the shared antenna 405 is shown in a first
sub-diagram 501, the MIMO channel matrix rank reported by the LTE
transceiver 401 is shown in a second sub-diagram 502 and the MIMO
channel matrix rank used by the base station 105 (i.e. the number
of streams transmitted) is shown in a third sub-diagram 503.
[0104] At first, the shared antenna 405 is assigned to LTE and, due
to the good LTE radio conditions, the LTE transceiver 401 reports
rank 2 to efficiently use the network capacity.
[0105] At the start of the video stream the WiFi transceiver 402
requests the shared antenna 405 for a long period of unknown
length.
[0106] Before the shared antenna 405 is switched to WLAN the LTE
fakes rank 1 in its report to the base station 105 starting on a
first point in time 504 so that the base station 105 changes the
transmission to a rank 1 MIMO transmission at a second point in
time 505, which can be received with a single antenna by the LTE
receiver. Only then the antenna is switched to WLAN at a third
point in time 505.
[0107] When the Video stream stops and the WLAN transceiver 402
releases (i.e. no longer uses) the shared antenna 405, the
controller switches the shared antenna 405 back to LTE at a fourth
point in time 507. The LTE transceiver 401 then measures the real
rank of the MIMO channel matrix and then starts reporting the
correct rank (1 or 2) at a fifth point in time 508. For example, in
case rank 2 is reported the base station 105 continues transmission
using two streams at a sixth point in time 509.
[0108] As second example, a scenario is assumed in which the WLAN
transmitter 402 only requests the shared antenna 405, e.g. for
short browsing data transfer, for a period with a known short
length. This is illustrated in FIG. 6.
[0109] FIG. 6 shows a signal diagram 600.
[0110] In the signal diagram 600, time flows from left to right and
the assignment of the shared antenna 405 is shown in a first
sub-diagram 601, the MIMO channel matrix rank reported by the LTE
transceiver 401 is shown in a second sub-diagram 602 and the MIMO
channel matrix rank used by the base station 105 (i.e. the number
of streams transmitted) is shown in a third sub-diagram 603.
[0111] At first, the shared antenna 405 is assigned to LTE and, due
to the good LTE radio conditions, the LTE transceiver 401 reports
rank 2 to efficiently use the network capacity.
[0112] As in the first scenario described with reference to FIG. 5,
the LTE transceiver 401 fakes rank 1 at a first point in time 604.
The base station 105 changes the transmission to a rank 1 MIMO
transmission at a second point in time 605, which can be received
with a single antenna by the LTE receiver. Only then the antenna is
switched to WLAN at a third point in time 606. After the short time
period during which the WiFi transceiver 402 requires the shared
antenna 405, the shared antenna 405 is switched back to LTE at a
fourth point in time 607.
[0113] In contrast to the first scenario described with reference
to FIG. 5, due to the short time period during which LTE does not
have the shared antenna 405, the LTE transceiver 401 assumes that
at the end of the period (when LTE gets back the second antenna)
the rank 2 from before is still valid because of an only slowly
changing channel and requests the base station 105 to use the rank
2 MIMO transmission scheme already in advance at a fifth point in
time 608. This assumption of the previous rank may for example be
done based on a threshold for the length of the gap. This threshold
may also e.g. be adapted to speed of the mobile communication
device 101, i.e. how fast the channel changes at the mobile
communication device 101.
[0114] According to the request by the LTE transceiver 401, the
base station 105 continues transmission using two streams at a
sixth point in time 609.
[0115] It should be noted that if LTE is already using rank 1 then
the faking of rank 1 in the examples described with reference to
FIGS. 5 and 6 is not needed. Furthermore, if the scenario changes
in between (e.g. if the LTE connection ends), then only the first
or the second part of the schemes as described with respect to
FIGS. 5 and 6 may be used.
[0116] There may be also scenarios where the shared antenna 405 is
used by the second RAT (in this example WiFi) only for a very short
time. This could be e.g. short tracking measurements by a GPS/GNSS
module after it has an acquisition or short quality measurements by
WiFi. The data of the short usage may also be stored to enable
offline processing afterwards, without the need of the antenna
being active.
[0117] For such very short antenna switches the overhead of
preparing LTE for the switch (e.g. faking rank 1) may be too large
compared to the benefit.
[0118] In such a case the controller may simply switch the shared
antenna 405 for the short time period without informing the LTE
transceiver 401. The LTE transceiver 401 in this case experiences a
small & short degradation but typically, no severe and
long-term effect will be visible because HARQ (Hybrid Automatic
Repeat Request) and higher layer retransmissions conceal the
impairment. This approach is illustrated in FIG. 7.
[0119] FIG. 7 shows a signal diagram 700.
[0120] In the signal diagram 700, time flows from left to right and
the assignment of the shared antenna 405 is shown in a first
sub-diagram 701 and the MIMO channel matrix rank reported by the
LTE transceiver 401 is shown in a second sub-diagram 702.
[0121] At first, the shared antenna 405 is assigned to LTE and, due
to the good LTE radio conditions, the LTE transceiver 401 reports
rank 2 to efficiently use the network capacity.
[0122] At a first point in time 703 the controller switches the
shared antenna 705 to the WiFi transceiver 402. The controller
decides that, due to the short period during which the shared
antenna 705 remains switched to the WiFi transceiver 402, the LTE
transceiver 401 is not informed about this. Accordingly, the LTE
transceiver 401 continues to report rank 2. At a second point in
time 704, the shared antenna 705 is switched back to the LTE
transceiver 401.
[0123] The switch control described above may also be able to
control the frequency characterization of the antenna itself. This
may be desirable because it may be difficult to create an antenna
that covers the full frequency range of both cellular (700 Mhz to
2700 Mhz) and WiFi (2400 Mhz to 5800 Mhz) RATs. The controller may
use means to cause an antenna to have an extended frequency range
using internal switching of capacitor banks--or any other
electrical means which is controlled by the same signal that
switches the antenna between the WiFi mode and cellular mode.
[0124] In the following, a further example is described. One
typical application for a smartphone is tethering. With tethering
there exists a cellular connection (e.g. according to 3G or LTE) of
the smartphone to the Internet. The smartphone gives access to this
Internet connection to another device e.g. via cable, Bluetooth, or
WiFi. Thus, this other device (e.g. a tablet, ultrabook, notebook
etc.) which may have no own cellular connection can have Internet
access, for example even outside of WiFi coverage.
[0125] For applications like HDTV/Video streaming very high data
rates are required. To achieve a high data rate, a multiple antenna
technology such as MIMO (e.g. 2x2), TX diversity and RX Diversity
may be used. In the following, an approach for antenna sharing in a
tethering scenario where MIMO is used for data transmission.
Specifically, in the approach described in the following, a
different number of antennas is used for uplink and downlink to
reduce the number of antennas in a mobile phone needed for a
high-speed tethering scenario.
[0126] FIG. 8 shows a communication arrangement 800.
[0127] The communication arrangement 800 includes a mobile phone
801 for example corresponding to the mobile communication device
101, an LTE base station 802 corresponding to the base station 105
and a further communication device 803.
[0128] The mobile phone 801 includes an LTE transceiver 804, a WiFi
transceiver 805, a controller 806 (e.g. implemented by an
application processor or a control circuit) and antennas 807, 808,
809. A first antenna 807 is permanently assigned to LTE, a second
antenna 808 is permanently assigned to WiFi and a third antenna 809
is a shared antenna which may be switched by the controller 806
between LTE and WiFi.
[0129] In this example, there is a high-speed tethering scenario
with the mobile phone 801 (acting as UE (User Equipment) according
to LTE) having a LTE 2x2 MIMO (alternatively, this may for example
also be 3G/HSDPA MIMO) downlink from the base station 802 for an
Internet connection and the mobile phone 801 serving as WiFi access
point for tethering to the further device 803, e.g. a Notebook,
with 2x2 MIMO WiFi.
[0130] In this example, the controller 806 decides to assign the
shared antenna 809 to LTE for reception since while the mobile
phone 801 only needs to receive a small amount of data from the
further device 803, i.e. has little throughput requirements for
WiFi reception, the mobile phone 801 has large throughput
requirements for LTE reception.
[0131] However, for transmission, the shared antenna 809 is
assigned to WiFi since it has a high throughput requirement for
WiFi transmission while it has a low throughput requirement for LTE
transmission.
[0132] Thus, there is antenna sharing between the cellular link
(i.e. the communication connection between the base station 802 and
the mobile phone 801) and the tethering link (i.e. the
communication connection between the further communication device
803 and the mobile phone 801). Thus, the number of antennas can be
reduced from 4 (2 for 2x2 LTE MIMO and 2 for 2x2 WiFi MIMO) to 3,
with still each antenna 807, 808, 809 serving only one radio
technology per direction. In other words, uplink and downlink are
considered separately per radio technology and reception and
transmission per antenna.
[0133] Specifically, as the downlink (from the base station 802 to
the further device 803) requires a much higher data rate (e.g. for
HD Video streaming) than the uplink multiple antenna technologies
are only applied in the downlink.
[0134] For the scenario of FIG. 8, the downlink includes the
downlink connections from the base station 802 to the mobile phone
801 and from the mobile phone 801 to the further device 803. For
the cellular downlink connection, i.e. the downlink connection from
the base station 105 to the mobile phone 801, the mobile phone 801
is the receiver, while for the tethering downlink connection, i.e.
the downlink connections from the mobile phone 801 to the further
device 803, it is the transmitter. Accordingly, the mobile phone
801 uses for the cellular downlink connection multiple (here 2)
receive antennas, while for the tethering downlink connection the
mobile phone 801 uses multiple (here 2) transmit antennas.
Considering that for both connections at least one antenna for the
reverse (i.e. uplink) direction is needed, the mobile phone 801 may
provide the tethering using only 3 antennas instead of 4 with this
kind of smart antenna sharing.
[0135] The antenna transmission and reception signals may be
separated by means of circulators 810. Different frequencies for
transmission and reception on one antenna may be used in FDD
systems and in Carrier Aggregation scenarios the frequencies may be
significantly different. WiFi and e.g. LTE can operate also on
similar bandwidth.
[0136] The approach described with reference to FIG. 8 may also be
applied for more antennas and e.g. higher MIMO schemes (4x2, 4x4
etc.). Further, there may be a matrix connection between the LTE
transceiver 804 and the WiFi transceiver 805 and the antennas 807,
808, 809 (i.e. all transceivers can be connected to all antennas,
e.g. by a combined digital feed RF chip) and the controller 806 may
flexibly optimize which antenna 807, 808, 809 is chosen for which
connection. For example, one antenna may be degraded by shadowing
for the cellular connection while due to the different angle of
reception another antenna may be degraded for the tethering
connection. The controller 806 may assign antennas taking such
effects into account.
[0137] While specific aspects have been described, it should be
understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form
and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit
and scope of the aspects of this disclosure as defined by the
appended claims. The scope is thus indicated by the appended claims
and all changes which come within the meaning and range of
equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be
embraced.
* * * * *